


I'll be your mirror

by AlicienneOfTarth



Category: A Song of Ice and Fire - George R. R. Martin, Game of Thrones (TV)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, F/M, Fairy Tale Elements, First Kiss, JB Week 2020, Magic, Magic Mirrors, Romance, Vices & Virtues
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-09-29
Updated: 2020-09-29
Packaged: 2021-03-07 22:08:50
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,250
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26714998
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/AlicienneOfTarth/pseuds/AlicienneOfTarth
Summary: When Jaime and Brienne find a magic mirror that reveales what's hidden in their souls, Jaime is afraid to watch.Brienne thinks otherwise.They don't know that what they'll see will change their lives forever.JB week 2020 Vices&Virtues- Day 2 Envy/kindness
Relationships: Jaime Lannister/Brienne of Tarth
Comments: 46
Kudos: 176
Collections: Jaime x Brienne Week 2020





	I'll be your mirror

**Author's Note:**

> Envy/Kindness
> 
> Hi, this idea came to my mind only two days ago after days spent trying to find an inspiration for the JB week, so it’s nothing big, but I just wanted to take part in this and give my little contribution. We are in the canon universe and Jaime and Brienne are travelling together, looking for Sansa.  
> The title of the story is from a song by Velvet Underground.  
> English is not my first language, sorry for any mistake.

[ ](https://ibb.co/5vphXpQ)

  


_When you think the night has seen your mind_

_That inside you're twisted and unkind_

_Let me stand to show that you are blind_

_Please put down your hands_

_'Cause I see you._

* * *

  


It happened one day as the sun was going down.

The sky had a vivid rose shade they weren’t used to see, it reminded him of her blushing.

The wench was blushing more lately, scowling less.

Their closeness increased every day, growing naturally the same way her hair was growing. She kept it in a low braid in the middle of her back now, there was nothing gracious in it, not a hint of vanity, yet he liked watching it when he walked behind her, reassured by the cadence of her movements.

The silence setting between them after a day spent walking wasn’t unpleasant, it suggested an intimacy he was afraid to name.

He found out he could have kept walking, he could have prolonged their quest forever if that meant finding her eyes again, calm or stormy, every time she blinked at him.

He didn’t lose sight of her even when they were sleeping.

One night he had woken up, finding her furs empty. He had ran around, heart in his throat, dreams still tarnishing his senses, until he had found her behind a tree, fixing her tunic. She had scowled at him, face red in embarrassment and annoyed as hell, while he was trying to explain how he hadn’t found her and he had been worried and terrified.

 _Terrified_ , he had omitted that part to her. 

From that night he slept with his fingers pressed against her wrist.

If he couldn’t hold her in the night, hearing her heartbeat would have been enough.

Sometimes, when he felt braver and the wench shifted on the furs, her back to him, he closed the distance between their bodies, until his nose touched the back of her neck. She usually stilled for some seconds, until she relaxed, her skin warmed by his breathing.

Those were his favourite nights.

  


“We should stop for the night.”

  


He nodded, happy to rest his tired bones, he wasn’t young anymore, but sometimes with her he felt like he was discovering the world for the first time.

They found a cave between the oaks, an ideal shelter for the night, yet the second they stepped inside, he sensed a strange feeling, something nameless he couldn’t quite catch, that made his hair stood up under his clothes nonetheless.

The wench, diligent as ever, was setting their furs down, collecting the wood for the fire when suddenly his eyes discerned something in the semi darkness of the cave.

A mirror hidden between two rocks, it was silver, inlaid with gemstones; there was an inscription along the handle, probably high Valyrian.

“What did you find?” she asked him.

“A mirror, something precious, I suppose.”

Brienne finished setting the fire, the cave instantly warming, then she walked toward him, observing carefully the object in his hand. He didn’t miss the way her cheeks colored at their proximity, neither the flames of the fire reflecting in her eyes. Under certain lights, he found out he couldn’t call her ugly anymore; absurdly, those lights were the most vivid ones, they didn’t cloud anything, they brought out.

 _“Drives,”_ she read out loud. “It’s high Valyrian.”

“I already knew that,” he said smugly, gaining one of her familiar scowl.

“It means _Truth._ ” Then her eyes widened, tracing the gems on the handle with one of her long fingers. “It’s the ancient mirror of the Truth,” she said in a whisper. Jaime chuckled at her enthusiasm. “Enlighten me, wench, what is the ancient mirror of the Truth?”

“Don’t you know the legend?” she asked him, outraged. He shook his head, his heart thundering a little at the look of impatience he found on her face.

  


He had read a lot of legends as a child when he couldn’t sleep, hidden under the sheets, holding a lantern, his brother Tyrion next to him. They had read about Dragons and Phoenicians, Centaurs and Unicorns, but he couldn’t remember any of that and sometimes he wondered if those nights had really existed. Then he had grown up and his nights, hidden under the bed sheets, had been filled by someone else.

He wished he could forget those nights and remember the others.

  


“The legend says,” the wench started speaking. “There are Seven magic mirrors hidden in the Seven Kingdoms, one for every reign, they help the lonely wanderers to find their way when they’re lost. One look in this mirror, you can find what’s hidden in your soul, all the emotions, the virtues, you can find them here, like a drawing that takes shape before your eyes.”

_Emotions and virtues, but what about vices?_

A mirror that wasn’t made for him, clearly, a look inside and he would have found out how corrupted his soul was, damaged for the rest of his life.

What a brilliant way to find his path again, mirroring himself in his sins, in what he was trying hard to forget.

_Keep it, wench, I don’t need your mirror._

  


“I don’t believe in this foolishness.”

The wench frowned at him and that annoyed him somehow. It was easy for her, she was pure, her soul white as the snow beyond the Wall, she would have probably seen flowers and butterflies, spring gardens and meadows, she would have never seen darkness. He almost felt a hint of envy for a moment, Gods, a part of him wanted to find that same vision too, but he immediately felt ashamed of himself, how could he feel envy toward someone that pure, that innocent?

His envy proved how corrupted he was, if else.

  


“Look at it yourself,” he said, pointing the mirror toward her, trying to hide his disappointment.

She took it from his hand, escaping his eyes that, as always lately, were unable to look away from hers. When she put the mirror in front of her face, he waited with a hint of nervousness while she seemed to lose herself in contemplation, her eyes brighter than usual, a small smile grazing her lips and he suddenly remembered how young she was.

She was a maiden, she liked the songs of the knights and she believed in the tales about honor and duty.

_She's innocence._

“What do you see?” he found himself asking, his voice trembling.

“Tarth,” she said dreamily. “It’s beautiful..Evenfall’s gardens, they’re flowered, there are little waterfalls all around, nightingales on the trees. The Seven Heavens.. if I think of them, I can only imagine them like this.”

 _The Seven Heavens._ That wasn’t really a revelation, there was only kindness inside her, Jaime had learned it too well and maybe too late.

“I didn’t think one day looking in a mirror would have been this pleasant,” she said lowly, but not that low for him to miss it.

 _Tarth_ , he knew how much she missed her home, if he had enough braveness in his heart, he would have made her a promise, swearing to take her there when the madness around them would have been over.

But he wasn’t made for oaths.

“You should try,” she said, pointing the mirror toward him.

_Oh, wench, do you want to humiliate me? I thought we were past that point._

“I told you, I don’t believe in that foolishness.”

That didn’t stop her though, her stubbornness as legendary as those ancient mirrors or maybe more, and closing the distance between them, she put the mirror in front of them, without giving him the time to look away. He fought the urge to close his eyes at the beginning, until his breath caught in his throat at the vision he found.

It was them together, _he and Brienne_ , they were both smiling, eyes glowing, in front of a Weirwood tree, their hands tied together with a ribbon, married in the sight of the Seven.

He turned toward the wench to ask her if she had seen the same vision but a look at her gave him the answer he was looking for.

“Did you see that?” she asked him surprised, her face a beacon in the night. “It can’t be.”

The vision had probably upset her because the mirror fell awkwardly from her hands.

He cleared his throat. “I did.”

“Must be a mistake, must be broken.”

He smiled bitterly at her indignation. “I thought you believed in these things.”

“And I thought you didn’t.”

He fought a lump in his throat, of course the wench had been affronted by that view, she would have never married him, she was kind, she was honest, she wasn’t a fool, she couldn’t soil her pureness with his dirt, dealing with someone like him, someone with more sins that bones in his body, someone unworthy, untrusty, someone whose soul couldn’t be saved.

_And yet when I look in her eyes._

“I’m sorry if that vision horrified you.”

“That wasn--”

“The thought of us that way ashamed you to the point you couldn’t keep the mirror in your hands and honestly, I can’t really blame you.”

“That’s not what I was implying.”

“What were you implying then?”

“I just.. I can’t believe someone like you would want to marry someone like me.”

She lowered her eyes, once her words were out.

_What was she talking about?_

“Come on, wench, we both know the only reason why I’ve seen something good in that stupid mirror is because you were next to me.”

“Something good?” she asked tentatively.

“If I tried again, alone, I would probably see the Seven Hells, flames and darkness, thunders and earthquakes.”

“That’s not true. There’s kindness in you, I’ve seen it myself. I see it every night when you sleep next to me, making sure I am warm enough, the second fur always covers my body, never yours. I see it every time we eat, my ration is always bigger than yours and those days when cramps are killing me we stop even if you could keep walking for an hour or more.” She said and when he was trying to counter, his words stuck in his throat, she took advantage of his struggle, collecting the mirror from the ground and putting it in front of him.

He held his breath for some seconds, looking at it, then his eyes widened incredulous at what he found there.

_That can’t be true._

_The sun was bright in the sky, he was on a beach, golden grains and sapphire sea. He wasn’t alone. Two kids were running toward him, until they both stopped at his side; they had blonde curly hair. The boy took his hand while the little girl grabbed his stump. She didn’t seem horrified at the vision, she smiled sweetly at him and his heart burst._

He couldn’t blink, feeling some tears forming at the corner of his eyes.

“Jaime, what are you seeing?”

He ignored her question, grabbing the handle of the mirror himself, his fingers covering hers.

_That couldn’t be true._

_He was ready to melt for the flames in the Seven Hells, not for to this unknown sweetness._

  


_They were still smiling, the boy’s nose covered in freckles, the little girl with a too familiar smirk on her face, she was holding a basket of shells. Then he saw someone on the corner of the mirror. A woman was walking toward them. Her eyes the bluest he had ever seen. Brienne._

“Jaime?” She tried again.

He lowered the mirror between them, finding her eyes instead.

“What did you see?”

He thought about lying, he thought of dozens of answers, but then he simply knew.

“The same thing I see every time I look into your eyes.”

“I don’t--”

But he didn’t let her doubts burden on them, not this time, he closed the distance between them, covering her lips with his own. She gasped softly in surprise and he smiled in the kiss, pressing her more firmly in his arms. Her body was strong against his but her lips were soft, her fingers around his wrist gentle, her movements clumsy and he drowned in her insecurity, tangling his hand in her locks, freeing the hair from the familiar braid. She interrupted the kiss to take a breath and he tried to kiss her again. She rested her forehead against his, frowning, already doubting, _his wench._

“Is.. is this.. did you see this?” she asked him in a whisper.

He shrugged. “We were a little beyond this, wench.”

“I don’t--”

He kissed her again, wanting to show her how beyond they were.

  


That night he didn’t sleep with his fingers on her wrist, neither his nose touching the back of her neck. That night he didn’t sleep at all, because every time he tried, Brienne kissed him a little more and he couldn’t deny her that, so he didn’t, covering her body on the furs, welcoming her lips and following her gentle exploration.

She didn’t know they were both learning.

Every kiss was deeper than the previous one.

He wanted to make love to her, but he would have waited, she deserved a bed with clean sheets and a warm fire, maybe they would have found an inn on the road, or maybe under the stars, on the beach of her Island, Tarth, Sapphire water and golden grains.

Yes, he would have waited and no, there was no need to hide, this time.

**Author's Note:**

> Thanks for reading, I hope you liked this little fairy tale, it would make me really happy knowing your thoughts. X


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